Coach Ruben Amorim has received a lot of attention since being approached for the job at Manchester United. That interest is so great that most people know that this coach has mainly used the 3-4-2-1 formation throughout his career.
With the "Red Devils" said to have studied Amorim carefully, this raises the question of how the players in Man United's current squad can fit into that system. This is a formation that Man United rarely use except in unexpected situations.
Of course, the club can switch to the transfer market and buy players who fit the 3-4-2-1 formation. Or simply those who they think will be better than the players they already have.
However, after suffering losses of more than £255 million in the past three seasons, Man United are on a fragile line in both the Premier League's Profit and Sustainability Regulation (PSR) and UEFA's equivalent guidelines on financial sustainability.
They will save some money if they do not renew Christian Eriksen, Victor Lindelof and Harry Maguire, who are about to expire their contracts. However, there is little expectation that Man United will spend big in the next 12 months.
What does this mean? First of all, Man United will need to be especially skillful in spending. Unlike previous managers, Amorim will not be the driving force. Instead, he needs to work with sporting director Dan Ashworth, technical director Jason Wilcox and chief executive Omar Berrada to find the right players.
The rest of the 2024-2025 campaign will certainly be for this task: determining who is suitable for which position, where they need to add and who to sell to reduce the salary fund.
However, this cannot be reserved for building the future. Amorim also has to get results right now, partly to build trust with the players and fans. In addition, it is also to ensure that Man United will not be further affected in terms of reputation and revenue when missing out on the Champions League.
In other words, the Portuguese tactician will have to implement his ideas quickly. And this is a difficult task.
With all the negativity surrounding Old Trafford under Erik ten Hag, they are not too bad in the table. It's true, finishing 13th is embarrassing, but they are only 4 points behind 3rd place, with 27 more matches. This is not an insurmountable obstacle.
The road back to the Champions League - especially if the Premier League gets five places - is not a long one. However, the road to a team Amorim really wants could take more time.
